The invention relates to a sliding door system with at least one motor drive sliding door wing, and comprising a running mechanism with a drive motor, control devices, circulating drive belt guided over deflection rollers, drivers for the connection of the drive belt and wing, a latching system, and motion sensors and the like.
Known door drives, such as, for example, the automatic sliding door drive described in DE-OS 36 02 567, are put together from a plurality of components, such as electrical motor, electronic control unit, carrier with running mechanism, latching device etc. The individual components are arranged alongside one another on a spatially fixed horizontal beam. The arrangement takes place essentially in a common vertical plane in the vicinity of the beam. Thus, a relatively large constructional height results. Furthermore, the cost of installation is mainly relatively high, because the individual components must each be arranged individually on the carrier via their own mounting devices.
DE-OS 38 23 188 describes a sliding door system with an electrical drive motor, which is secured on the housing of the running rail. For this purpose, a dove-tail section is formed on the upper side of the running rail housing, into which the drive and control devices can be slid and can be fixed via a clamped mounting. In this known design the drive motor is in each case arranged vertically above the drive rail, whereby in practice only restricted possibilities of installation offer themselves.
In DE GM 93 02 490, the installation of the drive motor takes place in a similar manner via an adapter section for the optional mounting vertically above the running rail or horizontally at the side thereof. The adapter section can be fixed with clamping screws in the dove-tail arranged at the upper side of the running rail housing.
The object of the invention is to develop a sliding door system which has a drive with a compact construction and a low constructional height.
The object is satisfied in accordance with the invention by providing an arrangement wherein the drive and control devices are arranged in a receiving space which adjoins the running mechanism at the front side, with the receiving space and the running mechanism forming an assembled, substantially parallelepiped shaped body, the lower edge of which extends up to or engages over the upper edge of the wing, and the vertical constructional height of which is determined by the cross-section of the drive motor and/or by the vertical constructional height of the running mechanism and the horizontal constructional depth of which is at least twice as large as the vertical construction height. The drive is thus a compact, parallelepiped-shaped body with a low constructional height. It consists of a running mechanism and a receiving space, with drive and control devices arranged therein. All drive and control devices of the drive, i.e. of the sliding door system, are preferably arranged in the receiving space. In this respect the receiving space has approximately the same-sized cross-section as the running mechanism and both preferably have the same axial length, which extends over the entire door width. This drive can, as a result of its compactness and low constructional height, be built into a facade, for example a post/transom design, with optical advantages. The drive designed as a body in the shape of a parallelepiped preferably has approximately the same or identical constructional height as the cross-beam of the facade design, i.e. the transom. In preferred embodiments the constructional height of the drive amounts to 7 cm. Customary transoms are mainly 6 to 7 cm high.
The vertical constructional height of the parallelepiped shaped body forming the drive is preferably of the same size as the vertical constructional height of the running mechanism or of a section forming the housing of the running mechanism. This vertical constructional height can alternatively or additionally be of the same size as the diameter of the drive motor, preferably with the transmission and the drive pulley at the output side.
The running mechanism can be formed as an overhung element or can also be secured to a beam. In particular, when mounted on a beam, the running mechanism can also be divided into two in its axial extent. One sliding wing is guided via roller carriages in each of the two parts, with a cutout for the insertion of the roller carriages preferably remaining at the centre between the two parts.
The running mechanism or the carrier is secured to posts of a post/transom design, or to a transom of a facade. In this respect the running mechanism, i.e. the carrier, has approximately the same height as the transom, or can also be of fractionally greater height. The installation is made easier when the running mechanism or the carrier has a horizontal limb which lies on the transom. In an alternative embodiment, the running mechanism, i.e. the carrier, can also replace the transom.
In a preferred embodiment, the running mechanism has a box-like running mechanism section with two vertical limbs. The one vertical limb is hung into a carrier via a hanging device and is connected to the latter via a clamping device. The running mechanism and the carrier are in this design arranged behind one another when viewed from the front side of the door and lie with their respective front surfaces contacting. The other front side of the vertical limb has a horizontally extending, longitudinal groove of C- or T-like form, in which the drive and control elements are secured by clamping blocks with clamping screws. The mounting apparatus is designed in such a way that the drive and control devices can be variably placed therein, individually or in constructional groups. The clamping blocks are inserted from the side into the mounting groove, or are inserted into corresponding cutouts. The groove preferably extends at half the height of the running mechanism section. In alternative embodiments a plurality of mounting grooves can be arranged in parallel and/or displaced relative to one another in the longitudinal direction of the running mechanism section.
The receiving region in which the drive and control elements are located is surrounded by a cover hood, the upper edge of which is aligned with the upper edge of the running mechanism section and the lower edge of which lies beneath the upper edge of the sliding wing. Thus, a very compact housing arises, which is box-like on the whole, with a width which is approximately 2 to 3 times the height, consisting of a running mechanism section and the receiving region attached thereto, with at least the receiving region being covered over by the cover hood.
A driver, which connects the wing to a drive belt driven by the motor, is passed through between the running mechanism section and the receiving region for the drive and control elements. For this purpose the front side vertical limb of the running mechanism section is preferably of shorter design when compared to the second vertical limb. The drive belt driven by the motor is guided in a horizontal plane beneath the remaining drive units via deflection rolls with a vertical axis of rotation. In this arrangement the drivers likewise extend in a horizontal plane from the upper edge of the wing to the drive belts, with the upper edge of the wing lying at least approximately in the same horizontal plane as the drive belts.
For the guidance of the roller carriage the sectional housing of the running mechanism has a web on one or on both vertical limbs, which subdivides the sectional housing into an upper and lower region. In this respect the roller carriage is guided in the upper region on the webs formed as running surfaces, and the sliding wing engages into the lower region, at least in the region of the upper edge of the sliding wing. Alternatively, at least the essential vertical extent of the suspension device connecting the sliding wing to the roller carriage engages into the lower region.
The axles of rotation of the roller carriage can be arranged both horizontally and also vertically or angled to the horizontal. In a preferred embodiment, each rotational axle carries two running rollers with differently shaped running surfaces. Advantages in the guidance of the roller carriage result when one of the running surfaces is convex or concave, and the other running surface is of planar design. The running surfaces of the webs are in this case made complementary hereto.
One of the running rollers can have a cutout in the running surface, into which a resilient pull is received. The latter serves as an energy store for an emergency opening procedure.
The invention will be explained in more detail in the figures, in which are shown: